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Caldarelli cruises to maiden podium finish at Barcelona

22-09-2009

Andrea Caldarelli experienced the best weekend of his career in theFormula 3 Euro Series, ending up on the podium on Race 1, after taking offrom the front row. The driver from Pescara, part of the Toyota DriverProgram, overcame a technical issue suffered in Practice by his SG FormulaDallara-Mercedes, cruising to a stunning 2nd place at the end of Qualifying.Aware that his racer was capable to fight at the top, Caldarelli clocked hisbest lap ending up 65 thousands of a second off Jules Bianchi's pole."It's been fantastic for me to be back at the top of the charts after so manytroubles - told Caldarelli - I could have even tackled to the pole, but I losttime for the yellow flags due to a spin by Vietoris"After being moved on by Alexandre Sims, Caldarelli kept third place untilcheckered. "We've been waiting for so long, an the team put on-track aperfect car here at Barcelona. I was certain that the development was followinga right path and it definitely paid off."On Race 2, Caldarelli took off from Row 4 but lost one spot after beingblocked hard by Waldschmidt. He then caught the slipstream of TiagoGeronimi, who defended himself roughly, causing the Italian to brake andlet Esteban Gutierrez go."I tried to do my race but when you're blocked so hard at the first cornerthere's nothing to be done. Tenth place is ok at the end of such a positiveweekend..."